Charter Schools Show Steeper Upward Trend in Student Achievement than District Schools
First nationwide study of trends shows large gains for African Americans at charters
M. Danish Shakeel
Paul E. Peterson
IllustrationThe number of charter schools grew rapidly for a quarter-century after the first charter opened its doors in 1992. But since 2016, the rate of increase has slowed. Is the pause related to a decline in charter effectiveness?
To find out, we track changes in student performance at charter and district schools on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which tests reading and math skills of a nationally representative sample of students every other year. We focus on trends in student performance from 2005 through 2017 to get a sense of the direction in which the district and charter sectors are heading. We also control for differences in students’ background characteristics. This is the first study to use this information to compare trend lines. Most prior research has compared the relative effectiveness of the charter and district sectors at a single point in time.
https://www.educationnext.org/charter-schools-show-steeper-upward-trend-student-achievement-first-nationwide-study/
